If you are like us- music, literature, and film has helped get through the turbulent times of 2020. The media and art we consume helps create laughter, calm, and an escape from the stresses of life. After the murder of George Floyd many of us began to think critically about the literature and music we were consuming- acknowledging that works by Black artists have been put on the sidelines over the years, if not for decades and even centuries. We need to recognize and celebrate the massive contribution Black artists have created. As we celebrate Black History Month, we have created a list of Sierra Club Ohio staff favorite picks- we hope you enjoy our favorites as much as we do!
Literature:
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?
The Dragon Can’t Dance by Earl Lovelace
Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis With her characteristic brilliance, grace and radical audacity, Angela Y. Davis has put the case for the latest abolition movement in American life: the abolition of the prison. As she quite correctly notes, American life is replete with abolition movements, and when they were engaged in these struggles, their chances of success seemed almost unthinkable. For generations of Americans, the abolition of slavery was sheerest illusion. Similarly, the entrenched system of racial segregation seemed to last forever, and generations lived in the midst of the practice, with few predicting its passage from custom. The brutal, exploitative (dare one say lucrative?) convict-lease system that succeeded formal slavery reaped millions to southern jurisdictions (and untold miseries for tens of thousands of men, and women). Few predicted its passing from the American penal landscape. Davis expertly argues how social movements transformed these social, political and cultural institutions, and made such practices untenable.
Dear Ijeawele by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie received a letter from a dear friend from childhood, asking her how to raise her baby girl as a feminist. Dear Ijeawele is Adichie's letter of response. Here are fifteen invaluable suggestions--compelling, direct, wryly funny, and perceptive--for how to empower a daughter to become a strong, independent woman.
This book is a thoughful and sweet quick read that everyone can enjoy. Last summer my eleven year old daughter even enjoyed the book! - Elissa Yoder Mann
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown
Sistah Vegan by A. Breeze Harper and Pattrice Jones
Cookbooks:
Between Harlem and Heaven by JJ Johnson and Alexander Smalls
Afro-Vegan by Bryant Terry This cookbook includes song suggestions for each recipe! -Emily Obringer
Children’s and Young Adult Books:
Trombone Shorty by Troy ‘Trombone Shorty’ Andrews, Illustrated by Bryan Collier
March: Book One, Two, & Three by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin
Music:
Santogold (retitled later Santigold) by Santigold When this album came out in 2008 I couldn't stop listening to it! It is a unique, incredible album! -Elissa Yoder Mann
It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back by Public Enemy (1988)Strange Fruit by Billie HolidayBen Harper is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae, and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances, and activism.
A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in St. Albans, Queens, New York in 1985,[3][4][1] originally composed of rapper and main producer Q-Tip,[5] rapper Phife Dawg, DJ and co-producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and rapper Jarobi White. The group is regarded as a pioneer of alternative hip hop music.[6]
Live at the Whiskey A Go Go by Otis Redding
Sam Cooke Listen to anything and everything! You will not be disappointed! - Elissa Yoder Mann
Missy Elliot is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Perfect if you need some motivation for your work out! - Elissa Yoder Mann
NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concert series will celebrate Black History Month by featuring 13 Tiny Desk (home) concerts by Black artists across genres. The lineup includes both emerging and established artists who will be performing a Tiny Desk concert for the first time.Spotify playlist: 40 Most Influential Black Female Singers and Musicians; and Black Lives Matter
Film:
Glory featuring Denzel Washington and Morgan FreemanWatchmen Lovecraft CountryI was floored by two recent "genre" shows on HBO: Watchmen and Lovecraft Country. Both of the shows grapple with the forgotten histories of racism and its ripples throughout generations, while also taking pre-existing literary works (themselves problematic or at least lacking in their depiction of a diverse society) and adding layers of both text and subtext. -Nathan Alley
Becoming directed by Nadia Hallgren
Get Out written and directed by Jordan Peele
Insecure written and starring Issa Rae
Devil in a Blue Dress written and directed by Carl Franklin
12 Years a Slave by Steve McQueen
Podcasts:
Ear Hustle- now in its fifth season, is a nonfiction podcast from Radiotopia about life inside the prison system and what happens once people leave it. Each 30-minute episode of Ear Hustle tells stories that are intimate and funny, as well as heartrending and difficult. Above all, their stories are human. Earlonne Woods and Antwan Williams (both formerly incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison) cofounded the podcast with Bay Area visual artist Nigel Poor. This year, Ear Hustle was a finalist for the inaugural Pulitzer Prize in Audio Reporting.
Still Processing
The Nod
Two Dope Queens- The podcast features female comedians, comedians of color, and LGBT comedians, in an effort to represent people from different backgrounds.
NPR’s Code Switch
Hidden Brain by Shankar Vedantam